Civil Rights Journey of Marc Gagnon

Civil Rights Journey of Marc Gagnon

By Teresa Sullivan

Marc Gagnon grew up in a State that had limited exposure to minorities. Gagnon went through his first 14 years of education without actually meeting one Afro American person. He first met Jaretta Copeland, Director of the Nashua Soup Kitchen in 1980. Gagnon served on the Leadership Committee then. Jaretta was a single mom, Afro American from Brooklyn, NY looking for a better life in NH. She has been a proponent for people of all races in her whole life.  She is now a caseworker in NH. It was not uncommon for people to state racial statements, probably because of the lack of minorities in the State. Statements like “what am I black,” when not being served expediently in a restaurant was common.  In 1992, Gagnon visited the University of Massachusetts to attend a speaking engagement given by Dr. William Cosby, ED.d.  Marc Gagnon thought the speech was a comedy act. In reality, the presentation was about humanitarian pursuits, specifically racism. In that gathering, Gagnon was touched and felt the pains of others that were victims of racism and close minded people; people he never met.  He met up with Dr. Cosby and made a commitment that he would do his part to speak up for those who did not have the same benefits that non minorities have. 

In the late nineties, he began searching out minorities to work with as models. Marc Gagnon even did an Ebony Magazine advertisement which the picture is shown below.  Gagnon began to utilize minorities in fashion shows for known charities.  Many people took objection with this. In 1997, a television station with a deep history of racism made Gagnon a target.  Gagnon was attacked on the news show late on night in January 1997. It just happens that some years before, the same station refused to air Welcome Back Kotter because they opposed forced busing.  Gagnon worked for a two week period of time for a collections agency as a consultant after being laid off from Fleet Bank which he worked for them for 14 ½ years.  At the time the News show slandered Gagnon, Gagnon was not working for the collection agency and the News station stated he did and never mentioned Gagnon’s 14 year history with Fleet. It was the goal of the station to damage Gagnon’s reputation.  On a separate note, a couple of people began harrassing Gagnon during this time and even stalked Gagnon's parents while driving to the Manchester Airport to pick up Gagnon from a vacation.

Gagnon pushed forward as an artist to speak up for civil rights through his artwork. He has gained the support of Bryant Gumbel as pictured below. His work hangs in the King Center which the piece was accepted by Coretta Scott King. Gagnon has been featured on NBC News showing off the Civil Rights collage. There have been a number of featured articles about Gagnon’s stance for civil rights which is shown in this blog. Gagnon had the recent pleasure of meeting the son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin Luther King III, pictured below. Below are also letters from Mrs. Lyndon Johnson, Coretta Scott King, a letter from Artists VS Racism, as well as a couple of collages that Gagnon created in support of the rights of many. Gagnon has been pursuing this aim, at least since 1992, some 21 years he recollects. As he has been quoted “three minutes of attacking me on TV will not hold me back.”  As you can see when Gagnon had a studio, half of the staff was part of a minority culture. The picture was taken back in 1984. Also below is model and actress Elina Sol, which Marc Gagnon personally manages. Elina Sol was worked with many black music people and Elina supports Gagnon's work on civil rights.

NBC News Interview

Portsmouth, New Hampshire collage

Portsmouth, New Hampshire collage

The Portsmouth NH collage is one of Marc Gagnon's favorite places to visit periodically. Marc has been to First Night (New Year's Eve), and you will see him frequent well known restaurants in the area. Portsmouth is also home to Strawberry Bank as well as the Birthplace of John Paul Jones, legendery Naval hero in the American Revolution.

The piece can be purchase for $200 for a 16 X 20 dry mount piece. Checks can be sent to one of the following places:

Marc Gagnon Inc., 131 Daniel Webster Highway, #246, Nashua, NH 03060

Marc Gagnon Inc., 1844 N. Nob Hill Rd, #226, Plantation, FL 33322

Here is the collage:

Your Lot in Life

Your Lot in Life

     by Teresa Sullivan

This collage is about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Book of Genesis from the Bible. The inner part of the collage is about this story, while the outer part of the collage compares the story to America. In the story, Lot and his wife are told by God to leave the city and not to look back. Lot's wife turns to look at the destruction of the City and is turned into salt.



Referenced in Wikipedia:

Sodom and Gomorrah (pron.: /ˈsɒd.əm/;^[1] pron.: /ɡə.ˈmɔr.ə/^[2]) were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources, as well as the Qur'an. According to the Torah, the kingdoms of Sodom and Gomorrah were allied with the cities of Admah, Zeboim and Bela. These five cities, also known as the "cities of the plain", were situated on the Jordan river plain in the southern region of the land of Canaan. The Jordan river plain (which corresponds to area just north of the modern day Dead Sea^[3]) has been compared to the garden of Eden,^[Gen.13:10] being a land well-watered and green, suitable for grazing livestock.
Divine judgment by Yahweh was then passed upon Sodom and Gomorrah along with two other neighboring cities that were completely consumed by fire and brimstone. Neighboring Zoar (Bela) was the only city to be spared during that day of judgment.^{[Deut.29:23][Gen.10:19]} In Abrahamic traditions, Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with impenitent sin, and their fall with a proverbial manifestation of God's wrath.^{[4][5][Jude 1:7]} Sodom and Gomorrah have been used as metaphors for vice.

America's Sanctuaries collage

America's Sanctuaries collage

by Teresa Sullivan

America's Sanctuaries collage is a very unique piece of artwork created by Marc Gagnon. The piece is based on the literary work of American Script Writer and Producer Gene Roddenberry. Back in the 80s, he wrote a script which was essentially the history of the world. The time was the year 2008 where the economy was suppose to deteriorate which would lead to a great depression. By the year 2020, there would be a Sanctuary in every major city of the United States. In these sanctuaries would house the unemployed, indigent and eventually the mentally ill.  The clip below is from the show Deep Space 9 which shows life in the sanctuary walls. Today, there are some major cities in the USA considering the creation of these sanctuaries. Is this coincidental?

Deep Space 9 concerning the Sanctuary Districts
The name of Gagnon's collage is America's Sanctuary.

The Boston Massacre collage by Marc Gagnon

The Boston Massacre collage by Marc Gagnon

    Blog by Theresa Sullivan, Treasurer of Marc Gagnon Inc.

Marc Gagnon, Photographic Artist, who has over 114 art pieces in permanent collections did a piece on the Boston Massacre, a critical historical event in American History.  John Adams, the man who United a country toward the signing of the Declaration of Independence was the pivotal character in the Boston Massacre incident. Below is the account of the event and then the collage:

The town of Boston was a very uneasy city throughout the 1760's. This uneasiness quickly turned to belligerence in the early part of 1770. Tensions had been mounting from the beginning of the year with various clashes between British sympathizers and colonists. However, in early March the tensions erupted into bloodshed.   On March 5, 1770 a small group of colonists were up to their usual sport of tormenting British soldiers. By many accounts there was a great deal of taunting that eventually lead to an escalation of hostilities. The sentry in front of the Custom House eventually lashed out at the colonists which brought more colonists to the scene. In fact, someone began ringing the church bells which usually signified a fire. The sentry called for help, setting up the clash which we now call the Boston Massacre. A group of soldiers led by Captain Thomas Preston came to the rescue of the lone sentry. Captain Preston and his detachment of seven or eight men were quickly surrounded. All attempts to calm the crowd proved useless. At this point, the accounts of the event vary drastically. Apparently, a soldier fired a musket into the crowd, immediately followed by more shots. This action left several wounded and five dead including an African-American named Crispus Attucks. The crowd quickly dispersed, and the soldiers went back to their barracks. These are the facts we do know. However, many uncertainties surround this important historical event:

• Did the soldiers fire with provocation?
• Did they fire on their own?
• Was Captain Preston guilty of ordering his men to fire into a crowd of civilians?
• Was he innocent and being used by men like Samuel Adams to confirm the oft-claimed tyranny of England?

John Adams defended the British soldiers in a court of law. He defended them well and they were found not guilty as it was found that one of the people in the crowd (a colonist) shouted out "Fire," which resulted in the soldiers firing their flintlocks.

Keene New Hampshire collage

Keene New Hampshire collage

Keene, New Hampshire is located on the west south side of New Hampshire off route 102. Keene NH is the home for Keene State College, a well known State College in New Hampshire.  Keene is also the home for former Redsox Catcher great Carleton "Pudge" Fisk who finished his career with the Chicago White Sox.

Keene, New Hampshire also has among its citizens many artisans (i.e. painters, sculptors, photographers, poets, writers). As you walk the main street, you will see numerous coffee houses where you may see these artisans. Keene is also in proximity to Route 91 which can take you up the State of Vermont and south to Springfield Massachusetts and Hartford Connecticut.

The community was granted as Upper Ashuelot in 1735 by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher to 63 settlers who paid five pounds each and whose properties were assigned by lot.[3] Settled after 1736, it was intended to be a fort town protecting the Province of Massachusetts Bay during the French and Indian Wars. When New Hampshire separated from Massachusetts in 1741 Upper Ashuelot became part of New Hampshire.

During King George's War, the village was attacked and burned by Indians. Colonists fled to safety, but would return to rebuild in the early 1750s. It was regranted to its inhabitants in 1753 by Governor Benning Wentworth, who renamed it Keene after Sir Benjamin Keene, English minister to Spain and a West Indies trader. Located at the center of Cheshire County, it became county seat in 1769. Land was set off for Sullivan and Roxbury, although Keene would annex 154 acres (0.62 km2) from Swanzey (formerly Lower Ashuelot).

Timothy Dwight, the Yale president who chronicled his travels, called the town "...one of the prettiest in New England." Situated on an ancient lake bed surrounded by hills, the valley with fertile meadows was excellent for farming. The Ashuelot River provided water power for sawmills, gristmills and tanneries. After the railroad arrived in 1848, numerous other industries were established. Keene became a manufacturing center for wooden-ware, pails, chairs, sash, shutters, doors, pottery, glass, soap, woolen textiles, shoes, saddles, mowing machines, carriages and sleighs. It also had a brickyard and foundry. Keene was incorporated as a city in 1874, and by 1880 had a population of 6,784.

New England manufacturing declined in the 20th century, however, particularly during the Great Depression. Keene is today a center for insurance, education and tourism. The city nevertheless retains a considerable inventory of fine Victorian architecture from its flush mill town era. An example is the Keene Public Library, which occupies a Second Empire mansion built about 1869 by manufacturer Henry Colony.

Keene NH was also the site for the filming of Jumanji which starred Robin Williams. Please see the Jumanji chase scene at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uoXapEpQQg.

You can purchase the below piece for $100 including shipping (16"X20") signed by the artist on drymount and send either to Marc Gagnon Inc., PO Box 8776 Coral Springs, Florida 33075 or Marc Gagnon Inc. , 131 Daniel Webster Highway, #246, Nashua, NH 03060.

Why The Term Temperamental Artist?

Why The Term Temperamental Artist?

 by Teresa Sullivan, Agent

Everyone has heard the term temperamental artist. This assumes that there is something wrong with the artist in the way they deal with others. Art is a very personal and unique talent and the artists themselves do not see things the way that the masses do. An artist is not just for those who paint. They can be sculptors, photographers, writers, poets, musicians, architects, interior designers or even inventors. Artists are big on truth and not their truth but universal truth. They are interested in making a stand for causes and are not afraid of public ridicule.

There once was a playwright by the name of Bill. He was not considered seriously by the people who worked with him, or the people who viewed his plays. At the time, women were not legally able to become actors on stage. He decided to write a play about a truth about life and took a chance in including a woman in the play. The play was about two people who loved each other so much that they were willing to die for each other and that is the way it ended. The audience was shocked and the actors were ready for impending public scorn. Then it was revealed that a woman acted in the play which could result in imprisonment. The Queen of England was so impressed with Bill, that she invited him to discuss the depth of what his play was about. He was then respected throughout the land. That man who stood up for womens rights was William Shakespeare.

Artists who do not make a stand for some dimension in life, are not ridiculed or publicly scorned or ridiculed, are really not artists. Many times people who say about an artist's work "I would not have done it that way" are part of the masses.  The next time you say this about an artist, check the artist out and see what the people who have collected his / her artwork say about it. If they are royalty, the aristocracy, heads of state or religious leaders, maybe you should think twice. Paul Gaugin challenged the Catholic Church for judging natives in the South Pacific for their hedonist ways. Mark Twain's work challenged society in showing youth not influenced to be a racist by associating with a black man known in his writings as Jim.  True artists enjoy helping others artists develop their artwork.  It is their way in giving back. Richard Avedon gave to Marc Gagnon by mentoring him in the 80s. You could say that America had an artist as President, Thomas Jefferson.

The term a Termperamental Artist is attributed to an occasional outburst resulting from narrow thinking. The artist though is not moved to change. They are driven to continue. It is this that I support Monsieur Gagnon, Artist and Friend.  A friend of Gagnon's by the name of Jacques Wiesel is a writer and many would consider him at times as temperamental. He is passionate about life and does so through his writings.

Below is a collage done by Gagnon and the piece is about one of the greatest artists of all time, Davinci. Also below is a painting of Jacques Wiesel and Marc Gagnon painted by Carol Morris.